Here is another more recent reason you should never travel to New York City with a firearm or even have it as a connection when flying to another airport.
Last Friday night, World Champion Shooter and Firearm Instructor Robert Vogel of Vogul Dynamics was supposed to fly from LA to Ohio with a connection in Dallas. His first flight got canceled, so he switched to a flight that connected through JFK Airport.
But after boarding his flight in JFK, Vogel’s name was called over the loudspeaker, and two TSA agents escorted him off the plane. Keep in mind that he declared his weapons at the Columbus, OH airport and filled out the required TSA doc. AND they knew he was connecting through JFK.
He doesn’t go into any more details of the conversation other than the fact that he would have been arrested if he hadn’t still been a reserve/auxiliary police officer with a badge.
It honestly hurts my brain trying to figure out why legally gun owners are being harassed like this. What does this prevent? I understand checking for guns going through carry-on luggage, most of the time being left in bags by forgetful gun owners. But harassing gun owners after following the federal guidelines on flying with guns is, pardon my french, bullshit. I travel across the country about once a week, and I make sure I don’t have to connect through New York or New Jersey if I’m flying with firearms.
Read his account of the incident on his Facebook post:
While you should technically be legal traveling through JFK with a declared firearm, it just isn’t worth taking the chance. I found this notice posted on a few different websites but don’t know where it originated but keep this in mind when booking your flights.
“Special Advisory for New York and New Jersey Airports: Despite federal law that protects travelers, authorities at JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Albany airports have been known to enforce state and local firearms laws against airline travelers who are merely passing through the jurisdiction. In some cases, even persons traveling in full compliance with federal law have been arrested or threatened with arrest. Otherwise, travelers should strictly comply with airline and TSA policies regarding firearms transportation, avoid any unnecessary deviations on the way to checking in their baggage, be well acquainted with the firearms laws of the jurisdictions between which they are traveling, have any necessary permits or licenses ready for inspection, and have copies of relevant provisions of current law or reciprocity information printed from official sources.”
Arbitrary enforcement of laws is a characteristic of authoritarian societies. Your mistake is in thinking that if you follow the law, your good faith will be recognized. Instead it is used against you.
This won’t stop until FEDERAL authorities arrest, charge and convict these local yocals who partake in this abhorrent behavior.
If you do enough flying along the east coast or internationally, and even if you make sure you have no connecting flights in NYC, eventually your plane WILL be directed to La Guardia or JFK.
This may be due to weather, an emergency, a threat, paperwork error, etc. It’s entirely out of your control.